Clay's Party

Clay's party was a mixture of good and bad.

You'll see from the following pictures that our church gym, where we held the party, is in the process of a bit of a face lift. I had stressed all week long about whether it would be safe to have the kids there for the party. Friday I went up and talked to the construction workers and they told me what areas to have the kids avoid, and they promised their tools would be out of the way.

True to their word, their tools were stashed. But gypsum dust was all over the floor from the drywall installation work. Thankfully, in all the playing that the kids did indoors, nobody slipped on the stuff.

Along with the tools being out of the way, the trash cans were nowhere to be found. We searched for 10 minutes before finding one.

When I walked into the gym, Bruce's first statement to me was: "You don't have any air conditioning."

Say what?

The heat pumps weren't even hooked up. Because there wasn't a hole in the wall yet for the wiring. We all sweated a little more than normal, but we jacked open all the doors and there was a nice wind blowing through. It could have been way worse.

Clay's actual birthday doesn't fall until next Friday, but I am forever having his party right after our church's VBS. This year I wanted Clay to come first. Even so, having a birthday in the summer comes with some inherent pitfalls... people are on vacation and can't come. Same thing happened last year, too.

Four boys came yesterday. They had a great time playing on their bikes, scooters and skateboards in the big church parking lot, and shooting hoops inside the gym.

Even though Clay seemed okay with the fact that only a third of who he invited made it to the party, I was disappointed for him. I think when he sees the difference between his party and his siblings' party in the fall after school is back in session... he's going to realize it stinks to have a summer birthday some times.

I am seriously considering having his party next year the weekend before school lets out... even if it's three weeks earlier than his actual birthday.

One great part about the day is that the weather cooperated nicely. No rain. And the wind was actually much appreciated, considering the AC situation.

Another great thing was having my friend Carolyn there. She and my in-laws helped set up and clean up. But mostly, they kept me from exploding.

I stress about parties. Even kids' parties. That's part of the reason we chose the church gym for the location this year. (Back when we thought there could be 12 boys there.)

Here's a few pictures.

Clay and Nathan going one-on-one while playing a little basketball.

My mother-in-law Sharon and me getting the food ready. I think Clay was pretty hungry by then.



Not surprisingly, the kids went more for the ice cream, chips, cookies, brownies and Rice Krispie treats than the fruit, veggies, and deviled eggs.



Joaquin, our neighbor, and Clay. They have played together every day since school let out. Joaquin received his invite late Friday evening. An explanation follows the picture.

Clay wanted to invite Joaquin back when he gave out invitations, but I discouraged him. I had good reason: he was younger than the other boys. I was concerned he'd feel misplaced with a bunch of boys who were in the same grade.

I explained my reasons to Clay, and I thought he understood. I should have saved my breath and just gone with Clay's wishes. Because at supper time Friday, he said, "I told Joaquin you didn't want him at my party."

After I choked, I incredulously said, "You told him WHAT?"

He repeated himself. I nearly died, thinking I'd hurt some kid's feelings. I got onto Clay a bit and told him that I had explained myself well and he either didn't listen or seriously misunderstood.

I hand-delivered that boy's invite 30 minutes later. And I explained it all to his mom, too, in case Joaquin told her what a witch his friend Clay has for a mother.

Mortified. Me. Completely.

Okay, next picture.

Clay, Tyler and Ben chatting and snacking.

Clay opening gifts. Can you see his sweaty little head?



This next picture leads to another funny story. One in which I am not exactly the butt. (Oh, and I don't mean a "butt" as in "butthead" although that does apply sometimes, as is apparent in the first little story above. I just mean I wasn't completely the butt of this next story. I was just a little bit of a butt in this one. I'll stop now. Because if Clay reads this over my shoulder, I'll be in trouble for writing a bad word. We don't say butt in our house. It's a bottom. I'm done already!)

When Clay's friend Ben arrived, his mom Bicki came up to me and asked, "How do you feel about guns in your home? Do you have any?"

I thought she was asking me about guns... hunting stuff... protect-your-family-from-a-prowler type thing. I said we didn't have any, impressed she was so diligent about checking our house for safety since her son comes over occasionally.

Then she asked, "Well, should I take back the Nerf one we got him as a gift?"

I cracked up then and told her what I had been thinking.

No, we tried that whole No Toy Guns thing. Our boys made guns from sticks in the yard, Legos, Tinker Toys and their fingers, if hard pressed. We gave up and stocked up on water guns, Nerf guns and disk guns.

It keeps the kids from breaking branches off our trees. Our Dogwoods thanked us.

Clay loves the new Nerf gun.

If I've told that kid "Don't point even pretend guns at a real person" once, I've told him a million times!

My sanity posse, with the exception of Bruce, the camera man. I don't have a single picture of him at the party.



I'll take the pictures on Clay's actual birthday on Friday, which we'll be working around the final night of VBS at church. We didn't give Clay our gifts today. I asked him if he wanted to open them on his actual birthday, so it would be celebrated, too. And he agreed.